The FAQ indicates that faction joining should be done by a quick comment here before we proceed to handwave more, so here I am!

Durandal would like to join the Atropos University Research Team - he's an incredibly geneticist (and pharmacist), he'll love to adapt his skills to more game-specific lab work. Miss him with that field work shit though, just bring back specimens and let him run calculations and sample analysis.

If the University needs someone to fill in to teach a class every once in a while, he won't say no to that either.